Multiple-input method and apparatus of free-space optical communication

ABSTRACT

The present application is directed an optical gyroscope. The optical gyroscope includes a substrate including a first and a second waveguide disposed thereon. One or both of the waveguides may be doped with a rare-earth material. A crossing element is disposed between the first and the second waveguides to form a substantially orthogonal connection therebetween. The application is also directed to a system including an optical gyroscope. The application is further directed to a method of observing characteristics of the optical gyroscope.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/915,506, filed on Oct. 29, 2010, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/362,201, filed on Jul. 7, 2010, and isrelated to International Application No. PCT/US2011/042562, filed onJun. 30, 2011, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to free-space optical communication.

ART BACKGROUND

The advantages of free-space optical communication (FSO), such as highbandwidth and high signal directivity, have long been known. One of theknown drawbacks of FSO is its susceptibility to scintillation. That is,turbulence and thermal phenomena create localized fluctuations in theatmospheric refractive index. A signal-carrying FSO beam passing throughsuch fluctuations may be wholly or partially deflected due to opticalrefraction. One consequence is that at the receiving end, where the beamis focused onto an image spot, the image spot may wander in the imageplane.

Moreover, FSO beams are typically generated as coherent laser beams. Acoherent beam initially has a uniform wavefront, i.e., a phase thatvaries slowly with radial position over the leading face of the beam. Abeam having a uniform wavefront is desirable because at the detector, itwill experience relatively little destructive self-interference.However, a second effect of index fluctuations in the atmosphere is todistort the wavefront of the FSO beam. The distortions causetime-dependent, destructive self-interference of the beam at thedetector, which leads, in turn, to fading of the received signal.

Some of the known solutions to the problems related to atmosphericscintillation use mechanical mirrors and adaptive optics to track thewandering beam and to correct the distorted wavefront. However, suchsolutions require bulky hardware components. Some of them also use aclosed, iterative control loop of sensing and mechanical actuation thatlimits their performance. These drawbacks are particularly severe in thecase of QAM and other advanced modulation methods for the FSO beam, forwhich reception is relatively sensitive to the fidelity of the amplitudeand phase of the received signal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

We have provided a new solution, which makes use of the fact thatdifferent wavelengths will generally exhibit different fadingcharacteristics in a propagation environment characterized byatmospheric scintillation. Our solution offers the possibility ofopen-loop adaptive processing that may be done purely in high-speedelectronics. This allows for coherent processing across the wavefrontand enables optical MIMO by taking advantage of the multipathpropagation produced by the atmosphere.

In an embodiment, our solution involves collecting at least one FSObeam, demultiplexing the beam, by wavelength, into at least twosub-beams, detecting each sub-beam to produce an electrical outputtherefrom, and recovering a signal using complementary information fromat least two of the electrical outputs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAINING

FIG. 1 is a simplified, partially schematic drawing of a transmitteraccording to the invention in an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a simplified, partially schematic drawing of a receiveraccording to the invention in an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a simplified, partially schematic drawing showing a detail ofthe optical portion of a receiver in one embodiment. For simplicity ofpresentation, an optical hybrid has been omitted from the view of FIG.3. A hybrid would typically be used to achieve phase diversity.

FIG. 4 is a simplified, partially schematic drawing of a FSOtransmission system transmitting through a propagation environmentcharacterized by atmospheric turbulence.

FIG. 5 is a simplified, partially schematic drawing of an exemplary FSOreceiver having multiple receive apertures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning to FIG. 1, an exemplary FSO transmitter includes a data encoder10 for producing coded electrical signals that are applied afteramplification stage 20 to modulate the optical output of two or morediode lasers 30. As seen in the figure, an optical system 40, whichcombines the functions of wavelength multiplexer and telescope, combinesthe optical outputs from the lasers into a beam 50 that is projectedthrough space, typically through the atmosphere, toward a receiver.

Although only a single projected, wavelength-multiplexed output beam 50is shown for simplicity of presentation, it will be understood that someadvantages of spatial diversity may be achieved through arrangements inwhich multiple wavelength-multiplexed output beams are produced. Thismay be done, for example, by using multiple transmit apertures.

Numerous alternative implementations of the system shown conceptually inFIG. 1 will be apparent to those skilled in the art, using knowntechniques for data encoding, known techniques for optical signalgeneration, modulation, and amplification, and known arrangements forwavelength multiplexing and for telescopic arrangements for projectingone or more FSO beams into space. For example, optical multiplexersutilizing planar waveguide technology, such as arrayed waveguide (AWG)and multi-mode interference (MMI) devices, may be useful in at leastsome cases. Likewise, optical fiber amplifiers, such as erbium-dopedfiber amplifiers (EDFAs) may be useful in at least some cases.

Preferred methods of data encoding for optical transmission rates of 10Gbps and above include PSK, QAM, and OFDM. Additionally, it may beadvantageous in at least some cases to employ space-time block codes andthe like, in which the coded constellation symbols are arranged inspace-time matrices or wavelength-time matrices, or over matrices thatextend in space, time, and wavelength. (A space-time matrix distributesthe signal over multiple output sub-apertures and multiple symbolintervals. A wavelength-time matrix distributes the signal over multiplewavelength subchannels and multiple symbol intervals.)

Turning to FIG. 2, an exemplary FSO receiver for the incoming beam 60from the transmitter includes a telescopic collection system 70, awavelength demultiplexer 80, diode photodetectors 90, analog-to-digitalconverters (ADCs) 100, and digital signal processor (DSP) 110. As seenin the figure, demultiplexer 80 separates the incoming beam into two ormore sub-beams that occupy different wavelength bands. Each sub-beam isconverted to an electrical signal by one of photodetectors 90. At theADCs 100, the coded constellation symbols are recovered and de-mapped tobinary sequences, which are processed in DSP 110 to produce output datastream 120.

Numerous alternative implementations of the system shown conceptually inFIG. 2 will be apparent to those skilled in the art, using knowntechniques for data decoding, known techniques for optical signaldetection and demodulation, and known arrangements for wavelengthdemultiplexing and for telescopic arrangements for collecting one ormore FSO beams. For example, optical demultiplexers utilizing planarwaveguide technology, corresponding to the optical multiplexersdiscussed above, may be useful in at least some cases.

As seen in the figure, the DSP has multiple input streams, eachcorresponding to one of the wavelength channels that are demultiplexedinto respective sub-beams. The DSP uses complementary information fromat least two, and preferably from all, of these wavelength channels inorder to compute the output data stream 120.

For example, redundant information may be sent on each of two or morewavelength channels. In such a case, the DSP may select for a period oftime that wavelength channel (or that subset of wavelength channels)that is strongest. By “strongest” is meant that which affords thegreatest probability of accurate reception. Strength may be measured bysignal-to-noise ratio, by error probability as determined from pilotsignals sent on the pertinent wavelength channel, or by other well-knownmeans. The period of time during which a particular channel selectionpersists may be determined, for example, by measurements of thecoherence time of the propagation environment, which in some cases maybe several milliseconds. According to such an approach, the informationin different wavelength channels is “complementary” in the sense thatthe same information that is received weakly in one channel may bereceived more strongly in another.

Information in different wavelength channels may also be “complementary”because different channels carry distinct data streams. That is, dataencoder 10 of FIG. 1 may operate to allocate different portions of adata stream to different wavelength channels. Such allocated portionsmay be entirely distinct, or, by redundant coding, they may containpartially overlapping data.

In at least some cases, it will be advantageous for DSP 110 to implementa diversity receiver. In a diversity receiver, the respective datastreams 130.1, . . . , 130.n that are input to the DSP are assigneddifferent weights. The set of weights is computed to minimize an errorprobability, based on pilot signals received from the transmitter. Insuch a case, the information on the different frequency channels is“complementary” because when combined in the DSP according to itsassigned weight, each channel contributes to an optimized receivedsignal.

In at least some cases, it will be advantageous for DSP 110 to implementMIMO techniques to recover the signal from space-time matrices,frequency-time matrices, and the like. As will be discussed below, suchprocessing may include the use of propagation coefficients obtained, forexample, from measurements made using pilot signals received from thetransmitter. Separate pilot signals may be sent on different wavelengthchannels as well as from different transmitter sub-apertures. Likewise,pilot signals may be received in different receiver sub-apertures.Accordingly, a matrix of propagation coefficients may be determined foreach wavelength channel. Within each such matrix, a given coefficientexpresses an attenuation and a phase delay between a given transmittersub-aperture and a given receiver sub-aperture. The use of such matrixinformation will be described further, below.

Turning to FIG. 3, a detail of the receiver arrangement of FIG. 2includes local oscillator 140, which provides phase information tophotodetector 90 in order to enable coherent detection. Coherentdetection is necessary if the phase of the received optical signal is tobe taken into account in the receiver. This is important for PSK, QAM,and other advanced modulation formats, as well as for MIMO processingthat takes into account the propagation coefficients, as will bediscussed below. (Those skilled in the art will understand that forcoherent detection, an optical hybrid is typically included in thereceiver arrangement just prior to photodetector 90. For simplicity ofpresentation, the optical hybrid has been omitted from the figure.)

FIG. 3 also shows tapered fiber bundle 150 (not drawn to scale), whichcollects light from demultiplexer 80 into a plurality of individualfiber endfaces and concentrates it into a single output fiber for inputto photodetector 90. By this means, a relatively large optical apertureis provided for collecting the optical signal. Thus, for example, thereare known tapered fiber bundles that employ an adiabatic taper toefficiently couple the collected light into a single-mode output fiberfor efficient detection. One benefit of the large aperture that isafforded by this technique is greater tolerance to beam wander.

In other embodiments, the tapered fiber bundle may be replaced by asingle fiber tapered from a large core (at the focus of the opticaltelescope) to a small core, thus adiabatically guiding the light into asingle-mode (small core) output fiber.

The arrangement of elements as shown in FIG. 3 should be understoodconceptually, and as representing a variety of possible alternativeimplementations.

In a broad sense, one of the principles that FIG. 3 is intended toillustrate is that a tapered fiber is useful for mitigating thedetrimental effects of beam wander. That is, beam wander (and to someextent also wavefront distortion) tends to smear out the focal spot ofthe optical system. If, in one of the focal planes of the opticalsystem, the collected light is injected into the wide aperture of atapered fiber or a tapered fiber bundle, the light can adiabaticallyreturned to a concentrated spot. As shown in FIG. 4, which will bediscussed below, such a taper may be duplicated for each of therespective wavelength channels to be collected from the wavelengthdemultiplexer.

Accordingly, it will be understood that it is advantageous for theentrance end of the tapered fiber or fiber bundle to have a largeeffective core, that a fiber bundle achieves this with a total core thatis the effective sum of the cores of the constitutent fibers, and thatan alternative is to use a tapered single fiber having (initially) arelatively large core. In at least some cases, the approach using asingle tapered fiber may be the most advantageous because the singlefiber suffers less optical loss due to the cladding covering part of theaperture. A single-fiber taper may also be simpler to fabricate, becauseit is free of the exacting path-length tolerances that may need to beimposed on a tapered fiber bundle in order to mitigate interferencebetween the fibers that constitute the bundle.

As noted above, both beam wander and wavefront distortion areundesirable phenomena that tend to degrade the performance of thecommunication system. Wavefront distortion becomes more damaging as datarates increase, because the resulting spread in the propagatingwavefront may become comparable to the spacing between successive pulsesin the modulated light beam.

In order to be able to effectively mitigate the effects of wavefrontdistortion, it is advantageous to use an effective optical aperture forthe detector that is less than one coherence length, or to subdivide thetotal aperture into subapertures, each having its own detector ordetectors. Each subaperture is also advantageously provided with its ownwavelength demultiplexer situated prior to the respective detector ordetectors.

It will be seen that FIG. 3 depicts an arrangement in which the entranceto the taper (i.e. to the tapered fiber or tapered fiber bundle) issituated at a focal point of the optical system that lies downstream ofwavelength demultiplexer 80. (It should be noted in this regard that thecompound optical systems that are typical of free-space opticalcommunication devices generally have multiple foci, so that the focalspot of the telescope gets re-mapped multiple times.)

In an alternative arrangement, the wavelength demultiplexer is situateddownstream of the taper. In particular, it could be advantageous tosituate the entrance to a single-fiber taper in a focal plane of thetelescope, and to direct the collected light through the tapered fiberto a single-mode wavelength demultiplexer. Such devices are desirablebecause they are compact and they are readily fabricated using knowntechniques. Single-mode fibers can be used to route the output signalsfrom the wavelength demultiplexer to respective photodetectors.

However, it should be noted that such an arrangement may be mostsuitable when wavefront distortion is of lesser concern, so that asingle large aperture can be tolerated for collecting the light injectedinto the taper.

Cases of larger wavefront distortion can be handled by the use ofmultiple fiber tapers (by using, for example, a fiber taper bundle) atthe focal plane of the telescope. In such cases, the multiple fibertapers effectively divide the focal spot into a set of coherentsub-patches, each of which can be processed in the same manner as in thecase of a single fiber taper. Each fiber taper is then followed by asingle-mode wavelength demultiplexer and by detectors for the individualwavelengths.

Once the optical signals are converted to electrical signals, thewavefront distortion can be measured across the sub-patches and acrosswavelengths, and it can be corrected. This enables the implementation ofadaptive optics in the electronic domain. Furthermore, suchelectronics-based adaptive optics is more flexible than conventionaladaptive optics because it permits the amplitude and the phase to becontrolled independently for each wavelength. This, in turn, enablesmore specific compensation for the wavefront distortions.

FIG. 4 shows a transmitter 160 projecting an FSO beam to a receiver 170.(Some elements of FIG. 4 having counterparts in preceding figures areindicated by like reference numerals.) Two wavefronts 180 and 190 of thebeam are shown in FIG. 4. A wavefront is a surface of constant phase. Asseen in the figure, the wavefronts become distorted as they pass throughcells 200 of atmospheric turbulence. Because the amount of phasedistortion is dependent on wavelength, signals in different wavelengthchannels experience different phase distortions. After propagationthrough a sufficient distance, the phase distortions in the respectivewavelength channels become mutually decorrelated. Such decorrelationmakes it possible to achieve certain gains at a receiver which, asdiscussed above, performs separate photodetection on two or moredistinct wavelength channels.

FIG. 5 shows a detail of a receiver in which collection lens 210 directscollected light onto the large-aperture face of multimode fused fiberbundle 220. (Some elements of FIG. 5 having counterparts in precedingfigures are indicated by like reference numerals.) The fiber bundledistributes the collected light into a plurality of single-mode fibers,each of which terminates at a respective detection chain including apreamplifier 230, which is for example an EDFA, and coherentphotodetector 240. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that asimilar arrangement may be operated in reverse, i.e. as a transmitter oflight emitted by multiple laser sources instead of as a receiver oflight directed onto multiple photodetectors.

When operated as a transmitter, such an arrangement is one possiblesource (among various others) of signals carried in multiple, spatiallydiverse sub-beams. Spatial diversity is most effective when theseparation between the effective apertures for the respective sub-beams(in either transmission or reception) is comparable to, or greater than,a pertinent coherence length. For example, the pertinent coherencelength may be the coherence length of the distorted wavefront in theobject or image plane, respectively, of the transmission or receptiontelescope.

Coherence lengths are readily computed from the theory of two-frequencymutual coherence functions in turbulent media, which is discussed below.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate further that spatial diversitymay be achieved in both transmission and reception by pairing atransmitter and a receiver that both have multiple apertures according,for example, to the arrangement of FIG. 5. It will be understood that insuch a case, there will be a complex propagation coefficient by for eachpair consisting of a transmit aperture i and a receive aperture j. Asnoted, each propagation coefficient represents a respective attenuationvalue and phase delay. For sufficient propagation distances, the variouspropagation coefficients h_(ij) will be mutually uncorrelated. We referto a configuration in which there are N transmit apertures and M receiveapertures as an N×M MIMO configuration.

The propagation coefficients can be measured using coherent detection ofoptical pilot signals, according to methods well known to those versedin radiofrequency MIMO technology. Generally, the propagation coeffientsmay be treated as quasi-static for the coherence time of the atmosphericpropagation channel.

As is well known in the field of MIMO, the optical outputs of thetransmit apertures during a symbol interval may be described as a vectorx, and the optical inputs at the receive apertures as a vector y. Insuch a notation, the coupling between each of the transmit apertures andeach of the receive apertures may be described by a matrix H whoseentries are the propagation coefficients h_(ij). Accordingly, the totaloptical signal arriving at a given receive aperture, including theeffects of optical fading caused by the phase distortions describedabove, may be expressed as the vector product of x (if x is taken as arow vector) times that column of H that corresponds to the given receiveaperture. The same is generally true at each of the multiple receiveapertures.

One consequence is that if H can be effectively inverted, thedistortions caused by atmospheric turbulence (as averaged over eachspatial sub-beam) can be corrected through numerical processing, and ineffect, the undistorted wavefronts can be recovered. It follows thatsignal loss due to fading can be at least partially reversed, and astronger signal can be recovered.

In one example, a single transmit stream is transmitted. It may betransmitted from a single transmit aperture or from multiple transmitapertures. In the case of a single transmit stream, the matrix H reducesto a single row, and the pertinent processing of the received signal isequivalent to the coherent combination of the various versions or thesignal received from the respective receive apertures or subapertures.In theory, this corresponds to the result that is sought using adaptiveoptics. However, our approach can achieve this result without using acontrol loop, and it can adjust for both the amplitude and the phase ofthe received signals.

Furthermore, our approach can be applied in cases where the time delaydue to the propagation is significant relative to the symbol duration.Such cases are not adequately treated, in general, by traditionalmethods of adaptive optics.

A number of techniques for achieving an effective inversion of H arewell known in the field of radiofrequency MIMO, and they may also beapplied to optical MIMO as described here.

The optical MIMO techniques described here may be applied in a singlewavelength channel, or in any number of wavelength subchannels.

As noted above, the theory of two-frequency mutual coherence functionsin turbulent media provides a framework for calculating coherencelengths. The same theory also provides a framework for calculating thecoherence bandwidth (which is also referred to as the correlation ordecorrelation bandwidth). For example, a theoretical calculation of thecoherence bandwidth for the case of strong scintillation is given in A.Ishimaru, Wave Propagation and Scattering in Random Media, Volume 2(1978) 424-426. A theoretical calculation for the case of weakscintillation case is given in L. Andrews and R. L. Phillips, Laser BeamPropagation through Random Media (1998) 150-152.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that for effective operation,the spacing between the respective wavelength bands assigned to thevarious sub-beams should be at least the coherence bandwidth, so thatwavelength-based decorrelation between sub-beams can take place. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate further that the total bandwidthspanned by the sub-beams should lie within the amplification bandwidthof the receiver. Accordingly, the amplification bandwidth imposes anupper limit on the wavelength spacing.

It will be appreciated further that the coherence bandwidth depends onthe average wavelength, the range (i.e., the transmission distance), andthe level of turbulence in the transmission path. Thus, for a givenrange and turbulence level, it is advantageous to select the averagewavelength such that the constraints described above can be satisfiedusing appropriate optical amplifiers.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: collecting two or more free space optical beams onto an array of two or more spatially separated subapertures; outputting a sub-beam carrying information thereon from each subaperature; detecting each of the sub-beams to produce outputs; controlling amplitude and phase independently for each of the sub-beams according to multiple-input multiple-output processing; and recovering multiple signals from the outputs.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: combining the outputs based on an assigned weight of the information associated with the outputs.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the combining step is performed during a time interval.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein during each of a plurality of time intervals, weighting the sub-beam outputs with respective weights derived from received pilot signals on the two or more sub-beams.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the pilot signals are received via a multichannel receiver.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the collecting step includes collecting two or more free space optical beams onto the subaperture array, with each of the collected beams representing exit subapertures of a remotely situated optical transmitter.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the phase and amplitude of each sub-beam via a local oscillator.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the controlling step is performed without a control loop.
 9. An apparatus comprising: an optical telescope; an array of two or more spatially separated subapertures, operably coupled to the optical telescope, configured to collect two or more free space optical beams, each subaperature is configured to output a sub-beam carrying information thereon; a detector stage configured to convert the sub-beams to outputs; a controller configured to control amplitude and phase independently for each sub-beam according to multiple-input multiple-output processing; and a receiver in receiving relationship to each of the sub-beam outputs configured to recover multiple signals therefrom.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the detector stage is configured to combine the outputs based on an assigned weight of the information associated with the outputs.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the detector stage is configured to combine the outputs during a time interval.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the detector stage is configured to weigh the sub-beam outputs with respective weights derived from received pilot signals on the two or more sub-beams during each of a plurality of time intervals.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the pilot signals are received via a multichannel receiver.
 14. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: a local oscillator that coherently transmits each sub-beam so that the resulting phase and amplitude can be determined at the detector.
 15. A system comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit two or more free space optical beams; and a receiver in communication with the transmitter, the receiver comprising: an array of two or more spatially separated entrance subapertures each configured to collect the free space optical beams and output a sub-beam carrying information thereon; a detector stage configured to convert the sub-beams to outputs; and a controller configured to control amplitude and phase independently for each sub-beam according to multiple-input multiple-output processing.
 16. The system of claim 15, further comprising: a telescope configured to project the two or more free space optical beams toward the receiver.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the transmitter includes an optical source having two or more spatially separated exit subapertures each defining a modulated sub-beam.
 18. The system of claim 17, further comprising: a digital processor and memory configured to compute a propagation coefficient between each of the exit subapertures and each of the entrance subapertures.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the detector stage is configured to combine the outputs based on an assigned weight of the information associated with the outputs.
 20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the detector stage is configured to weigh the sub-beam outputs with respective weights derived from received pilot signals on the two sub-beams during each of a plurality of time intervals. 